This month in Rabbit Run...

Hello everyone!


Can you believe it's December!? Over the last month we have had so much fun celebrating a ton of birthdays in Rabbit Run! The children love seeing the photos of their friends growing throughout the years, and as I walk around showing the pictures you will hear a chorus of, "awww," "she's so cute!," and one child who often remarks, "adorable!" We all sing "The Earth Goes Around the Sun" as the child walks around the sun holding our painted globe. After all their trips around the sun, the birthday child then serves their friends the treat they brought (all while wearing the cloth birthday crown). It's a lovely celebration and we have enjoyed having so many friends to celebrate this month.

During November, we had a special ballet unit on the shelf with nomenclature cards for the parts of a pointe shoe, ballet positions, as well as photos of our changemaker, Maria Tallchief, the first Native American (Osage) ballerina and the first American prima ballerina. We read a few books about ballet, our favorite was "Boys Dance," a rhyming book about ballet practice for a group of young boys ("perspire" was our favorite new vocabulary word we gleaned from this book). There was also a pair of small pointe shoes for them to practice putting on and lacing up. Our changemaker for December is Dr. Mae Jemison, an engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She was the first Black woman to travel to space. We have photos of Dr. Mae Jemison, a book "Mae Among the Stars" about Mae as a child, a set of nomenclature cards that teach the parts of an astronaut space suit, and a set for the planets. 

In the afternoon, we have had so much fun learning about reptiles, and playing reptile bingo! So far their favorite is the Stinkpot Turtle, for obvious reasons :) They are also very excited and interested in the difference between soft shelled eggs (reptiles) and hard shelled eggs (birds). We have a really amazing, complete snake skin on the shelf, and this has added to our discussion.

Thanks to everyone for the mask and coffee donations- we are all set for a while! Thanks also to those who purchased us items from our wish list, we are so appreciative. As we enter holiday season, here is an article I love about telling family stories and how it shapes children's understanding of their own identity- both who they are and where they come from. Listening to family stories builds connection, models narrative storytelling, supports language comprehension, and you can do it no matter where you are. Children of this age love and are captivated by true stories, and especially those that pertain to them and their loved ones personally. Hope you enjoy!

Warmly,
Elizabeth

What kids learn from Family Stories...